2 Months Ago: Seth's Point of View
"Whoa Seth lay off the steroids!" I heard my sister exclaim as I turned the corner into my living room. I ran to hug her. She was small in my arms since I phased and grew like crazy. I hadn't seen her in over a year. Here I was eighteen years old hugging my older sister who was twenty five and at least ten inches shorter than me.
"Whoa Leah come home more often and it wouldn't be so crazy each time you saw me." I exclaimed back earning a punch to my shoulder.
"How is my favorite child?" I heard my dad laugh from the living room.
"Good!" Leah and I both yelled and glared at each other. My dad laughed in response and began to get up to get to Leah. Her face fell and she ran over to him to stop him. He had an oxygen tank and was not himself. It was hard to watch him decline every day and know the inevitable. I envied Leah for being able to escape it all but I knew she had chosen the harder path. Seeing him knowing they could have had more time would have been terrible for anyone. But she didn't know until recently. None of us really knew because the decline was so recent.
"Dad, don't get up." She sighed trying to get him to sit down.
"Leah, I am fucking dying but I am not going down without standing up to hug my family." My dad laughed but his eyes were sad. All of us winced in response.
"Jesus, all of your faces right now. We got to all go sometime so let's not have me die thinking you are all sad. Happier faces from now on." My dad tried to laugh but it fell on deaf ears.
"Dad…" Leah started to say with tears in her eyes.
"No Leah. We had enough time and still have enough. Don't you start that shit." My dad said shaking his head before hugging her.
"I got nothing to complain about." My dad said smiling at us as my mom entered the room.
"Besides an absent daughter." Leah frowned.
"Ha I got you beat Leah. I'm the gay son." I laughed pretending it was a competition to see who the worst child was. My mom laughed from the kitchen.
"First, it's who the favorite is and now it is who is the least favorite?" My mom laughed coming over to sit with us.
"Wait, what!" Leah exclaimed standing up finally understanding that I was gay.
"Oh yeah Seth came out a while ago. Come home more absentee daughter." I laughed as she came up and punched me in the shoulder again. She then hugged me and I hugged her back.
"So everyone is cool with it?" She asked pulling away. My heart sank a bit. Some of the pack members were but other's like Brady weren't. I didn't imprint, I just couldn't stand to not say anything anymore.
"Mom and dad were." I smiled back at her.
"He is my son. And you are my baby girl. I could not be happier with anything else." My dad smiled at us. My mom did an obnoxious cough noise.
"Oh and I have a smoking hot wife." My dad pipped up laughing at my mom as she pretended to flip her hair. She came up and pecked him on the lips.
"Fuck yes you do." She smiled as he pulled her next to him. My parents were the goals of the century when it came to true love. I never saw them fight and they always took care of each other. The chemistry never left.
"How long are you planning on staying?" I asked my sister.
"I am here for as long as possible." She smiled at me.
"What about California?" I asked shocked.
"I missed home. California was cool but not a lot to hold me there." She shrugged.
"Nothing special there?" I asked. She looked sad for a second as if there was something or someone there. But she answered by shaking her head leaving me wondering.
"Anything interesting happening here?" She responded. My dad and I locked eyes. We couldn't tell her about the pack yet. We thought it best to wait until we knew she was staying and wouldn't run.
"Leah…" My mom started to say sucking in a breath.
"How long?" Leah asked tensing up as if she knew what my mom was going to tell her.
"A couple months now. The wedding is in a year." My mom answered holding my sister's hand.
"Curious she didn't have the guts to tell me." Leah growled referring to Emily. My dad and I just locked eyes again.
"Neither did he. You can't just be upset with her." My mom sighed earning an eye roll from Leah.
"He was my fiancé so cheating on me was shitty. But she was my cousin, she was my best friend. That's fucked up." Leah growled standing up.
"Well, if you are going to stay here you should know they are part of the reservation so you will see both of them." My dad said sternly. He hated Sam. Even when I was eleven I understood my dad hated Sam.
I didn't know then because I was so young that Sam imprinted on Emily. I didn't even understand any of it being so young. Just one moment I was a kid hearing Sam proposed to my sister and the next they were no longer together. Then my sister was hugging me goodbye.
She deserved all the happiness but had closed herself to it long ago. I just wanted her to stay so bad. Little did I understand that I would get this wish, but it came at price? Be careful what you wish for.
